Midday Resort Break

How many of you head back to the resort for a midday break?
How do you do it?

Sorry for so many questions, but once we get to the park its hard to leave and then it just seems like a lot of work(& travel time) to get DH, myself and 5 children back for a break and then all ready again for the parks.

Do you hit the parks really early? Do you do the EMH?

What do you do for midday break - swim,nap?

What time do you head back to the parks?
Do you go back to the same park or a different one?

I am very curious to see how everyone plans their days.
Thanks in advance

We do not plan out every minute of our trips. Generally we'll wake up when we do, and get to a park when we do. If we get hot or tired, we leave and swim or rent watermice or sit on the balcony of our room and read a good book.

The way I look at it, as soon as you start to get uncomfortable, you're no longer having fun, and it's time for a break. If you're not having fun, why bother being there?

I'm assuming you're staying on site. This makes taking a break easy, just get on the bus/boat/monorail back to your resort. As far as "getting ready", not sure what you mean, it would seem that potty and shoes would be about all you really need to do. Even with five kids, that's not that much of an ordeal. (I only have one, but as the oldest of seven, I can say that with some degree of experience )

I think organization is the key, have them line up their shoes/backpacks/whatever they need for the parks in order near the door of the room as soon as you get back, so you do'nt spend time hunting for things when you want to leave.

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We started off being @ the park for the opening. We stayed any where from 11a - 1p. Then either took the boat or monarail back to the resort. We swam for a couple of hours and then tried to squeeze in a couple hour nap. If we skiped the nap it seemed that we all got irritable. Then we either went to the park that had the EMH or one that stayed open later. We usually didn't stay the whole extra 3 hours. We were able to see so much in such a little amount of time that we felt that we didn't need to stay.

Thats what we did. Next time we go I think that we will make sure that we rest more. I found that every one enjoyed the parks more if well rested. Even though we did short rest periods we could have used more.

momxx5:
We always head back to the resort after lunch for a mid-day break. We choose to stay on site which makes returning to the room a lot easier. We typically do EMH at MK, may or may not do it at the other parks but always arrive at official opening if not doing EMH. We find after 4-5 hours we are hot, tired, hungry and starting to "lose our joy"! A swim in the pool and rest for those who need it (like my husband!) makes all the difference. We will usually head back 5-6ish to do very specific things (see specific shows, see the parade/fireworks, eat dinner, etc) so we may end up returning to the same park or going to a different one depending on our plans. We typically go to WDW either in May/June or Sept/Oct due to our kids school schedules so park hours tend to be longer. If we went dead of winter I am not sure that we would be as religious about the midday break as A) it would not be as hot and B) the parks are not open as long so we would not have as many park hours to "play with" when planning our day. We have tried touring WDW both commando style and more laid back; I find everyone, (from our 9 month old to the 16 year old to us old folks) seem to enjoy ourselves more with that opportunity to "recharge" midday. HTH

We are, by nature, early risers. So we are always in the parks as early as humanly possible. Then, around lunchtime, we head back to our resort and swim, eat, and relax a bit. Late afternoon we head back out to the parks. Usually a different park than the one we were in that morning. Generally speaking we do this mostly for Epcot/WS and MGM. If MK is closing at 7 pm, we get there early in the morning and stay until 1-2, then leave. We only go back to MK at night if there is an E-night or it's open late. Same with AK...we do what we need to do early in the day. If we want to do more AK, we will come back on another morning. Afternoons there are just too darn hot!!!

Usually EE and then leave for or after lunch. Have to say over the Mem Holiday wknd it was so hot as a group of adults we all wanted to leave by 2pm. We returned to our resort to cool down and then some went swimming while others napped. Then we returned for dinner or right afterwards. The park was much better then as well.

We usually hit one of the parks in the mid-morning (can't get DH up too early!) Since we're not there at opening, we avoid going to the EE park. Usually stay 'til early-mid afternoon, then head back and swim or relax. We stay in a Disney villa, so we either cook dinner & then head back to a park or eat dinner in the park.

Varies as to whether we go back to the same park on the same day. Depends on the evening fireworks schedules, etc....

We head back if we feel we'd like to and have done it this way since DD's first trip when she was 3. We are both naturally early risers so by 7 we are typically dressed and ready for the day.

We tend to have a big early breakfast via PS in one of the parks so we can just walk out and be there around opening time. If we are having fun and don't feel like leaving mid-day we don't. One year we went the the weather was brutal in December -- humid and high 80s-low 90s each day. We would leave the parks at around 11, take a cooling dip in the pool, a mini-nap and head back around 3:30/4:00 to stay until the parks closed (since it was Dec. they closed pretty early).

It made an enormous difference. I know this because one day we decided to tough it out in the heat and by 4:30 we were so dead tired and cranky that we were almost in tears and totally out of gas. I think we ended up asleep by 7 p.m. that night. Not a very enjoyable day!

Most of the time, because we went during the off season, it was easy and enjoyable to stay all day -- cool temps, low crowds. Going in the heat or at high season usually means we end up back at the hotel for some portion of our day.

I like md-day resort breaks for two reasons. First, it allows me to rest and to go swimming. Second, if I'm paying to stay at the resort, I might as well get as much out of it as I can.

As far as what time I like to go back, it all depends on what I'm doing at the park in the morning and how much I get done. Generally, I go back to the resort between 2 and 4. I don't always go back to the same park but have a few times. I go back to the parks around 5 or 6 depending when they close at night. I also like to take a shower during my return to the resort. That way, I feel nice and clean for dinner and I get the sun screen off.

Do you take midday breaks even in the off-season? It seems like by the time you do that and get back to the park, it'll be closing very soon. We've always gone in the summer and are planning a trip in Nov., I wonder if we'll do those afternoon breaks that time of year.

I just started working this year in the school system so this will no longer work for me, but here's a tip for off season touring. The hours are much shorter so you do have to plan around that. We never do Epcot in one day. We do our morniing touring of whatever park we're at- usually we're done (done meaning being tired and ready to rest somewhere) by 1 or 2pm. At that time we head back to the hotel and take a nap (my kids are 4.7.10). We wake up whenever (usually after an hour or two of sleep) and head to Epcot. We stay at Epcot for the evening most evenings (thats where we eat dinner most of the time anyway) and then, because we've had a nap, we can stay for illuminations if we want, OR we can go back to the pool for night swimming. My kids absolutely love this part of our vacations. If they really really want to go on the slide (usually closes at night) in the pool, we'll take a swim before our nap but that does make the evening that much shorter.
Anyway, I think Ive only been at Epcot a few times before lunch- never at opening- the nighttime thing works great for us- the lines are short or nonexistent and crowds are minimal. Mind you this is only off season- I havent been as an adult during the busy season (but Ill let you know in Aug of 2005!!!-grin).
NancyL

Nancy, thanks so much for the info!! That sounds like such a great idea - just touring Epcot in the evenings. Usually that's the only park that's open late right? We always go in the summer and we'd have to change our touring plans completely for off season. Thanks so much for the help.

Stayed off site in Oct. 2001 (Marriott Courtyard, now Holiday Inn, in DTD area). It was very cool and not very crowded...well, that's an understatement...parks were EMPTY. Did not go back to hotel for breaks because it was way too complicated, too much time traveling back and forth during a time w/minimal park hours. So we stayed in parks and took breaks there - PSs for lunch, shady benches, ice cream (and DOLE WHIPS!), Hall of Presidents a few consecutive times, stuff like that.

This time, we're goin' in August and believe that it's worth spending $250 more per night eek for the convenience of the monorail; we KNOW with heat AND crowds, we will NEED that break; this is an investment in the hope that we can call our trip to WDW a real "vacation" too. It'll be our only one this year.!

I found that in the summer when it storms the parks empty out. So I like to get to the parks early and then leave by 12:00. It gets hot. then we can still swim before the afternoon storms. We then go back to the parks around 3:30 and when the storm hits pull out our ponchos and go when others leave. We have waited to leave until 2ish before and by the time we get back to the hotel, it storms and the kids can't swim.

Oh I hate that too - when it storms just when we're ready to go swimming! We usually leave the park by 12:00 (hot and tired) and then go to a nice lunch (big meal of the day). Then sometimes we don't get to swim very long before the storm rolls in. I really don't know how else to work it.